“Part of the purpose of this home is to enable these young men to meet the potential that the Lord has given them.”
— Alys West, Founder of Stephen’s Home: Kherson, Ukraine
A Heart for Special Needs
Alys West is one of our home church’s global staff who, as a young woman, dreamed of adopting kids with special needs and living in a home of her design that perfectly fit their unique needs. When God prompted her to go on a short mission trip to Ukraine, however, He showed Alys the need for people who love children with special needs to stay and care for them. Reluctantly, Alys agreed to move to Ukraine. A decade later, those children have grown into adults, and God gave Alys the opportunity to build the home she had originally designed. This home will now house 10 adult men with special needs who will have a chance to experience life and community like they haven’t before, in a home lovingly designed, built, and decorated for them.
We had the opportunity to share this story with our church over the month of December in hopes of raising money to support this ministry, and the response from Chapelstreet Church was overwhelmingly generous, far exceeding our goal. It is in both Alys’ example and the church’s response that motivate our ministry. We want to see God moving in people’s hearts to consider what His dreams for them are and how each of us can take part in global Kingdom work.